Method and apparatus for deriving temporal motion vector prediction

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for deriving a motion vector predictor (MVP) for a motion vector (MV) of a current block of a current picture in Inter, or Merge, or Skip mode. The method selects a co-located block corresponding to a co-located picture and receives one or more reference motion vectors (MVs) of one or more co-located reference blocks associated with the co-located block. The method also determines a search set and determines a search order for the search set, if the search MV corresponding to the given reference list is not available, the search order then searches the search MV corresponding to a reference list different from the given reference list. Finally, the method determines the MVP for the current block based on the search set and the search order and provides the MVP for the current block.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present invention is a Divisional of pending U.S. application Ser.No. 13/236,422, filed on Sep. 19, 2011, entitled “Method and Apparatusfor Deriving Temporal Motion Vector Prediction,” which claims priorityto U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/452,531, filed Mar. 14,2011, entitled “New Derivation Method for Temporal Motion VectorPredictor” and PCT Patent Application, Serial No. PCT/CN2011/079674,filed Sep. 15, 2011, entitled “Method and Apparatus for DerivingTemporal Motion Vector Prediction”.

The present invention is also includes subject matter that is related toU.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 13/206,891. Filed Aug.10, 2011, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Derivation of MV/MVPCandidate for Inter/Skip/Merge Modes” and U.S. Non-Provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 13/177,808, filed Jul. 7, 2011, entitled “Methodand Apparatus for Derivation of Spatial Motion Vector Candidate andMotion Vector Prediction Candidate”.

The U.S. Provisional patent application, PCT patent application and USNon-Provisional patent applications are hereby incorporated by referencein their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to video coding. In particular, thepresent invention relates to coding techniques associated withderivation of temporal motion vector candidate and motion vectorprediction candidate.

BACKGROUND

In video coding systems, spatial and temporal redundancy is exploitedusing spatial and temporal prediction to reduce the information to betransmitted. The spatial and temporal prediction utilizes decoded pixelsfrom the same picture and reference pictures respectively to formprediction for current pixels to be coded. In a conventional codingsystem, side information associated with spatial and temporal predictionmay have to be transmitted, which will take up some bandwidth of thecompressed video data. The transmission of motion vectors for temporalprediction may require a noticeable portion of the compressed videodata, particularly in low-bitrate applications. To further reduce thebitrate associated with motion vectors, a technique called Motion VectorPrediction (MVP) has been used in the field of video coding in recentyears. The MVP technique exploits the statistic redundancy amongneighboring motion vectors spatially and temporally. In the rest of thisdocument, MVP may sometimes denote “motion vector prediction” andsometimes denote “motion vector predictor” according to contexts.

In High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) development, a technique namedAdvanced Motion Vector Prediction (AMVP) is currently being consideredby the standard body. The AMVP technique uses explicit predictorsignaling to indicate the MVP selected from a MVP candidate set. In HEVCtest model version 2.0 (HM-2.0), the MVP candidate set of AMVP includesspatial MVPs as well as a temporal MVP, where the spatial MVPs includetwo MVPs selected from two respective neighboring groups of the currentblock. The temporal MVP is derived based on motion vectors from arespective area of a reference picture by mapping the current block fromthe current picture to the reference picture. The respective area, i.e.,the co-located block, in the reference picture may not have the sameblock size (prediction unit (PU) size) as the current block. When therespective area uses smaller block sizes than the current block, one ofthe blocks in the co-located block is selected as a co-located referenceblock. In HM-2.0, the temporal predictor is associated with the centerblock of the respective area while the previous version of HM uses theabove-left reference block of the co-located block. If the MV for theco-located reference block does not exist, the temporal MVP is notavailable. It is desirable to develop an MVP derivation scheme that canimprove the availability of the MVP from the neighboring blocks. Theimproved MVP derivation scheme may result in smaller motion vectorresidues and, consequently, better coding efficiency. Furthermore, it isdesirable that the MVP derivation scheme will allow the MVP candidate tobe derived at the decoder based on decoded information so that noadditional side information has to be transmitted.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method and apparatus for deriving a motion vector predictor (MVP) fora MV of a current block in Merge, Inter, or Skip mode are disclosed. Inone embodiment according to the present invention, the method andapparatus for deriving a motion vector predictor (MVP) for a MV of acurrent block in Inter, or Merge, or Skip mode comprise: selecting aco-located block corresponding to a co-located picture; receiving one ormore reference MVs (motion vectors) of one or more co-located referenceblocks associated with the co-located block; determining a search setand determining a search order for the search set; determining the MVPfor the current block based on the search set and the search order; andproviding the MVP for the current block. The search set comprises one ormore search MVs associated with the co-located reference blocks, andwherein each co-located reference block is associated with one or moresearch MVs.

One aspect of the present invention is related to configuration of theco-located reference blocks and the corresponding search set fordetermining the MVP. In one embodiment according to the presentinvention, the co-located reference blocks comprise an inside co-locatedblock inside the co-located block, an outside co-located block outsidethe co-located block, or both the inside co-located block and theoutside co-located block. For example, the center block of theco-located block can be selected as the inside co-located block. Inanother example, the outside co-located block is located outside theco-located block and across from a lower-right corner of the co-locatedblock. In one embodiment, the search MVs comprise first search MVscrossing the current picture and second search MVs associated with theco-located picture in the given reference list, then third search MVsassociated with the co-located picture in the other reference list.

Another aspect of the present invention is related to the search orderfor determining the MVP. In one embodiment according to the presentinvention, the search MV associated with the co-located picture in thesame reference list as the current picture has higher search prioritythan the search MV associated with the co-located picture in the otherreference list. In another embodiment according to the presentinvention, the search MV crossing the current picture has higher searchpriority than other search MVs. The search for determining the MVP canbe firstly performed over search MVs associated with each co-locatedreference block or over the co-located reference blocks for each searchMV. In yet another embodiment according to the present invention, theMVP found is compared with a previous MVP. If the MVP found is the sameas the previous MVP, the MVP search continues. If the search finds noMVP through the search set, the MVP is set to zero, a default value or apre-determined value, or removed from a candidate set of MVPs.

Yet another aspect of the present invention is related to the selectionof the co-located picture for determining the MVP. Informationassociated with a flag indicating the co-located picture can beincorporated in sequence level, picture level, or slice level. Theco-located picture associated with the co-located block can be derivedaccording to an implicit method or an explicit method as indicated bythe flag. In one embodiment according to the present invention, when theimplicit method is used, the selection method for the co-located pictureassociated with the co-located block can be determined according to thegiven reference list, such as a reference list different from the givenreference list. In another embodiment according to the presentinvention, when the implicit method is used, the selection method forthe co-located picture can be based on temporal distance associated withthe reference MVs, such as the reference MV with the shortest temporaldistance. The selection method for the co-located picture may also bebased on a picture type of the co-located picture, a layer of theco-located picture in a hierarchical group of pictures (GOP), or apicture order of the co-located picture in a GOP, or the picture orderof the co-located picture in a same layer as the hierarchical GOP.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates neighboring block and co-located block configurationfor deriving spatial/temporal motion vector prediction candidate set forInter and Skip modes according to High Efficient Video Coding.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of temporal predictor by mapping thecenter of the block to a co-located block instead of the origin of theblock.

FIG. 3 illustrates neighboring block and co-located block configurationfor deriving spatial/temporal motion vector prediction candidate set forMerge mode according to HM-2.0.

FIG. 4 illustrates neighboring block configuration for derivingspatial/temporal motion vector prediction candidate set for Merge modefor a first PU of an N×2N CU according to HM-2.0.

FIG. 5 illustrates neighboring block configuration for derivingspatial/temporal motion vector prediction candidate set for Merge modefor a first PU of a 2N×N CU according to HM-2.0.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of co-located blocks used to derivetemporal motion vector prediction in the H.264 video coding standard.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of MVP derivation scheme incorporating anembodiment according to the present invention for Inter and Skip mode,where an exemplary search set and an exemplary search order areillustrated for deriving the temporal MVP.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of MVP derivation scheme incorporating anembodiment according to the present invention for Merge mode, where anexemplary search set and an exemplary search order are illustrated forderiving the temporal MVP.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of MVP derivation scheme incorporatinganother embodiment according to the present invention, where anexemplary search set and an exemplary search order are illustrated forderiving the temporal MVP.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of MVP derivation scheme incorporatingyet another embodiment according to the present invention, where anexemplary search set and an exemplary search order are illustrated forderiving the temporal MVP.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of motion vector prediction incorporatingan embodiment according to the present invention, where the MVP for thecurrent block is derived by scaling co-located reference motion vectorsof a co-located picture.

FIG. 12 illustrates another example of motion vector predictionincorporating an embodiment according to the present invention, wherethe MVP for the current block is derived by scaling co-located referencemotion vectors of a co-located picture.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In video coding systems, the spatial and temporal redundancy isexploited using spatial and temporal prediction to reduce the bitrate tobe transmitted or stored. The spatial prediction utilizes decoded pixelsfrom the same picture to form prediction for current pixels to be coded.The spatial prediction is often operated on a block by block basis, suchas the 16×16 or 4×4 block for luminance signal in H.264/AVC Intracoding. In video sequences, neighboring pictures often bear greatsimilarities, and simply using picture differences can effectivelyreduce the transmitted information associated with static backgroundareas. Nevertheless, moving objects in the video sequence may result insubstantial residues and will require higher bitrate to code theresidues. Consequently, Motion Compensated Prediction (MCP) is oftenused to exploit temporal correlation in video sequences.

Motion compensated prediction can be used in a forward predictionfashion, where a current picture block is predicted using a decodedpicture or pictures that are prior to the current picture in the displayorder. In addition to forward prediction, backward prediction can alsobe used to improve the performance of motion compensated prediction. Thebackward prediction utilizes a decoded picture or pictures after thecurrent picture in the display order. Since the first version ofH.264/AVC was finalized in 2003, forward prediction and backwardprediction have been extended to list 0 prediction and list 1prediction, respectively, where both list 0 and list 1 can containmultiple reference pictures prior to or/and later than the currentpicture in the display order. The following describes the defaultreference picture list configuration. For list 0, reference picturesprior to the current picture have lower reference picture indices thanthose later than the current picture. For list 1, reference pictureslater than the current picture have lower reference picture indices thanthose prior to the current picture. For both list 0 and list 1, afterapplying the previous rules, the temporal distance is considered asfollows: a reference picture closer to the current picture has a lowerreference picture index. To illustrate the list 0 and list 1 referencepicture configuration, the following example is provided where thecurrent picture is picture 5 and pictures 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 arereference pictures, where the numbers denote the display order. The list0 reference pictures with ascending reference picture indices andstarting with index equal to zero are 4, 2, 0, 6, and 8. The list 1reference pictures with ascending reference picture indices and startingwith index equal to zero are 6, 8, 4, 2, and 0. The first referencepicture having index 0 is called co-located picture, and in this examplewith picture 5 as the current picture, picture 6 is the list 1co-located picture, and picture 4 is the list 0 co-located picture. Whena block in a list 0 or list 1 co-located picture has the same blocklocation as the current block in the current picture, it is called alist 0 or list 1 co-located block, or called a co-located block in list0 or list 1. The unit used for motion estimation mode in earlier videostandards such as MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 is primarily based onmacroblock. For H.264/AVC, the 16×16 macroblock can be segmented into16×16, 16×8, 8×16 and 8×8 blocks for motion estimation. Furthermore, the8×8 block can be segmented into 8×8, 8×4, 4×8 and 4×4 blocks for motionestimation. For the High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard underdevelopment, the unit for motion estimation/compensation mode is calledPrediction Unit (PU), where the PU is hierarchically partitioned from amaximum block size. The MCP type is selected for each slice in theH.264/AVC standard. A slice that the motion compensated prediction isrestricted to the list 0 prediction is called a P-slice. For a B-slice,the motion compensated prediction also includes the list 1 prediction inaddition to the list 0 prediction.

In video coding systems, motion vectors (MVs) and coded residues aretransmitted to a decoder for reconstructing the video at the decoderside. Furthermore, in a system with flexible reference picturestructure, the information associated with the selected referencepictures may also have to be transmitted. The transmission of motionvectors may require a noticeable portion of the overall bandwidth,particularly in low-bitrate applications or in systems where motionvectors are associated with smaller blocks or higher motion accuracy. Tofurther reduce the bitrate associated with motion vector, a techniquecalled Motion Vector Prediction (MVP) has been used in the field ofvideo coding in recent years. In this disclosure, MVP may also refer toMotion Vector Predictor and the abbreviation is used when there is noambiguity. The MVP technique exploits the statistic redundancy amongneighboring motion vectors spatially and temporally. When MVP is used, apredictor for the current motion vector is chosen and the motion vectorresidue, i.e., the difference between the motion vector and thepredictor, is transmitted. The motion vector residue is usually termedmotion vector difference (MVD) as well. The MVP scheme can be applied ina closed-loop arrangement where the predictor is derived at the decoderbased on decoded information and no additional side information has tobe transmitted. Alternatively, side information can be transmittedexplicitly in the bitstream to inform the decoder regarding the motionvector predictor selected.

In HEVC being developed, some improvements of motion vector predictionover the H.264/AVC are being considered. For Inter and Skip modes inHEVC test model version 2.0 (HM-2.0), multiple spatial MVPs are joinedwith a temporal MVP for selecting a final MVP for the current block. ForMerge mode in HM-2.0, multiple spatial MVPs are also joined with atemporal MVP for selecting a final MVP for the current block. In Mergeand Skip modes, the final MVPs are the final MVs because their MVDs arezero by definition. In HM-2.0, the Inter and Skip modes utilize anAdvanced Motion Vector Prediction (AMVP) algorithm to select one finalmotion vector predictor (MVP) within a candidate set of MVPs. The AMVPis proposed by McCann et al., entitled “Samsung's Response to the Callfor Proposals on Video Compression Technology”, Document JCTVC-A124,Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC) of ITU-T SG16 WP3 andISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG1, 1st Meeting: Dresden, Germany, 15-23 Apr. 2010.The index of the selected MVP is transmitted. In the Skip mode ofHM-2.0, the reference index will always be set to 0. In the Inter mode,the reference index is explicitly transmitted to the decoder.

In existing HEVC, the temporal MVP is derived based on motion vectorsfrom a respective area of a reference picture by mapping the currentblock from the current picture to the reference picture. The respectivearea, i.e., the co-located block, in the reference picture, i.e., theco-located picture, may not have the same block size (i.e., predictionunit (PU) size) as the current block. When the co-located block uses asmaller block size than the current block, one of the blocks in theco-located block is selected as a co-located reference block. In HM-2.0,the temporal predictor is associated with the center block of therespective area. The center block has the coordinates of its lower rightcorner mapped to the center of the current block. However, a block atthe upper-left corner of the co-located block has been associated withthe temporal prediction of AMVP in a previous version of HM. FIG. 1illustrates the candidate set of MVPs used in HM-2.0, which includes twospatial MVPs and one temporal MVP:

-   -   1. Left predictor (the first MV available from E, A_(m), . . . ,        A₀),    -   2. Top predictor (the first available MV from C, B_(n), . . . ,        B₀, D), and    -   3. Temporal predictor T_(ctr) (a temporal MV, found by mapping        the center of the block to its co-located block).

One MVP index is signaled to indicate which MVP from the candidate setis used. For the left predictor, the MVP is selected as the firstavailable MV from the bottom block to top block which has the samereference picture index as the given reference picture index (it is setto 0 for Skip mode and is explicitly transmitted to the decoder for theInter mode) and the same reference list as the given reference list. Forthe top predictor, it is selected as the first available MV which is notidentical to the left predictor from the right block to the left block,which has the same reference picture index as the given referencepicture index and the same reference picture list as the given referencelist. The temporal predictor is determined by mapping the center of theblock to a co-located picture, instead of the origin of the block (i.e.,the upper left block of the respective area). The location of the centerfor 3 types of partitioning of a 32×32 CU, i.e., 2N×2N 210, 2N×N 220 andN×N 230, is shown in FIG. 2. The centers and origins of the blocks areindicated by reference numbers 214, 212, 224, 222, 234, and 232respectively.

In HM-2.0, if a block is encoded as a Merge mode, one MVP index issignaled to indicate which MVP from the candidate set is used for thisblock to be merged. FIG. 3 illustrates the neighboring blockconfiguration for deriving the MVP for Merge mode. The candidate setincludes four spatial MVPs and one temporal MVP:

-   -   1. Left predictor (A₀),    -   2. Top predictor (B₀),    -   3. Temporal predictor T_(ctr) (a temporal motion vector, found        by mapping the center of the block to a co-located picture),    -   4. Right-Top predictor (C), and    -   5. Left-Bottom predictor (E).

For the spatial MVPs in Merge mode, the reference picture index will beset to the same as the reference picture index from the selected block.For example, if block C is selected according to the MVP index, the MVand the reference picture index from the block C are used for merge,i.e. the MV and reference picture index from block C are used forcurrent PU. If the block has two MVs, the two MVs and their referencepicture indices are used for bi-prediction. In particular, each CU canbe merged as a whole (i.e. 2N×2N merge) or partially merged. Ifpartition type N×2N or 2N×N is selected for Inter predicted CU, thefirst partition (i.e. PU) of this CU is forced to Merge mode. That is,the first PU of an N×2N or 2N×N CU will not have its own motion vector;instead, it has to share one of its neighboring blocks' motion vectors.At the meantime, the second PU of the N×2N or 2N×N CU can be either inMerge mode or Inter mode. The MVPs for partial merge of the first N×2NPU are shown in FIG. 4, where the spatial MVPs are indicated byreference number 410 and the temporal MVP is indicated by referencenumber 420. The MVPs for partial merge of the first 2N×N PU are shown inFIG. 5, where the spatial MVPs are indicated by reference number 510 andthe temporal MVP is indicated by reference number 520.

Motion vector prediction is used to predict the motion vector of thecurrent block, and is an important part of video coding. In general, themotion vector predictor (MVP), used in the result of motion vectorprediction, is derived from spatial and temporal neighboring blocks. Thetemporal neighboring blocks usually means the blocks located at the sameposition in the nearest reference picture. For a B-picture, there may bemore than one collocated block, as shown in FIG. 6. In H.264, thesucceeding collocated block is implicitly selected to derive motionvector predictor. In this disclosure, we propose a new method forderiving a temporal motion vector predictor or a temporal motion vectorpredictor candidate. For simplicity, the same notations defined in H.264are used such as reference picture lists 0 and 1 for indexing thereference pictures.

As mentioned before, in H.264, a current block may be predicted usingmotion-compensation based on a preceding reference picture and asucceeding reference for the B picture. Therefore, the temporal MVP canbe based on the co-located picture selected from reference picture list0 or list 1 as shown in FIG. 6. Corresponding co-located block 612 inpreceding reference picture 610 or corresponding co-located block 632 insucceeding reference picture 630 can be used to derive the temporal MVPfor current block 622 in current picture 620. In H.264, the succeedingcollocated block is implicitly selected to derive the motion vectorpredictor. AMVP is an effective means for reducing the informationassociated with transmission of an underlying motion vector. Theefficiency of AMVP depends on the availability of MVPs and the qualityof the MVPs (i.e., accuracy of the MVP). When an MVP is not available,the underlying MV has to be transmitted without prediction or with aprediction value 0, a default value, or a pre-defined value. It isdesirable to improve the MVP availability and quality. Therefore,extended temporal search scheme according to various embodiments of thepresent invention is disclosed. According to one embodiment of thepresent invention, a flag is used to indicate a co-located picture andthe temporal MVP is derived based on the co-located block. Referencemotion vectors associated with the co-located block are used to form asearch set and the MVP is derived from the search set according to asearch order.

FIG. 7 illustrates one embodiment according to the present invention,where the neighboring blocks (A₀, . . . , A_(m), B₀, . . . , B_(n), C,D, E) are used to derived the spatial MVP, and T_(BR) and T_(ctr)associated with the co-located blocks are used to derive the temporalMVP for Inter and Skip modes. A conventional method always uses a blockwithin co-located block 730 to derive the temporal MVP. The exampleillustrated in FIG. 7 also uses a block outside co-located block 730 toderive the temporal MVP. In additional, more than one block can be usedto derive the temporal MVP, such as an inside block and an outside whilethe conventional approach always uses a single co-located block. FIG. 7illustrates an example of center block T_(ctr) as the inside block andblock T_(BR) adjacent to the bottom-right corner of the co-located blockas the outside block. The blocks associated with the co-located blockand neighboring blocks of the co-located block for temporal MVPderivation are referred to as co-located reference blocks in thisdisclosure. A block inside the co-located block for deriving thetemporal MVP is referred to as an inside co-located block in thisdisclosure. Similarly, a block outside the co-located block for derivingthe temporal MVP is referred to as an outside co-located block in thisdisclosure. The motion vectors for the co-located reference blocks arereceived to derive the temporal MVP. There may be more than one motionvector for each of the co-located reference blocks. For example, for a Bpicture, one motion vector may be pointing to a picture in referencelist 0 and another motion vector may be pointing to a picture inreference list 1. The motion vectors for the co-located reference blocksare referred to as reference motion vectors (MVs) in this disclosure.

A search set is determined based on the co-located reference blocks, anda search order is used for determining the temporal MVP. In the exampleof FIG. 7, the reference MV(s) of co-located reference block T_(BR) isfirst searched if T_(BR) exists, then the reference MV(s) of co-locatedreference block T_(ctr) is searched for determining the temporal MVP.The search set comprises search MV(s) associated with one or moreco-located reference blocks, and wherein each co-located reference blockis associated with one or more search MVs. For example, co-locatedreference block T_(BR) has two MVs, one MV pointing to a referencepicture in list 0 and another MV pointing to a reference picture inlist 1. Various search sets may be formed in various embodimentsaccording to the present invention to determine the temporal MVP.Similarly, various search orders may be formed in various embodimentsaccording to the present invention to determine the temporal MVP. Thesearch set shown in FIG. 7 comprises the search MVs associated withco-located reference blocks T_(BR) and T_(ctr). A search MV that crossesthe current picture, a search MV corresponding to the co-locatedreference block pointing to a reference picture in the given referencelist, and a search MV corresponding to the co-located reference blockpointing to a reference picture in the other reference list are searchedin order. The search order shown in FIG. 7 is from the search MVcrossing the current picture, to the search MV corresponding to thereference block pointing to a reference picture in the given referencelist, and to the search MV corresponding to the reference block pointingto a reference picture in the other reference list. In one embodimentaccording to the present invention, the search MV crossing the currentpicture is always assigned higher priority, and this MV is selected asthe temporal MVP if there is only one MV crosses the current picture. Ifboth MVs in list 0 and list 1 cross the current picture, or none of theMVs crosses the current picture, the search MV corresponding to theco-located reference block pointing to a reference picture in the givenreference list is selected as the temporal MVP. If the search MVcorresponding to the co-located reference block pointing to a referencepicture in the given reference list is absent, the search MVcorresponding to the co-located reference block pointing to a referencepicture in the other reference list is selected as the temporal MVP. Inother words, the search MV corresponding to the other reference listwill only be selected if the co-located reference block isuni-prediction, which only has one MV that is corresponding to the otherreference list. Accordingly, the search MVs being assigned with thefirst search priority are referred to as first search MVs in thisdisclosure. On the other hand, the search MVs being assigned with thesecond search priority are referred to as second search MV in thisdisclosure. In the example of FIG. 7, if there exists one motion vectorMV_(BR) for T_(BR) and there exists one motion vector MV_(ctr) forT_(ctr). The search scheme according to FIG. 7 will select MV_(BR) asthe temporal MVP. In order to properly use MV_(BR) as the temporal MVP,MV_(BR) has to be scaled according to the temporal distances associatedwith the current MV and the select MVP, MV_(BR).

In some other embodiments, whether the MVs cross the current picture isnot considered, so the search order of FIG. 7 becomes first searchingthe MV of T_(BR) corresponding to the given reference picture list, ifT_(BR) is uni-prediction and only has MV within the other referencepicture list, searching the MV of T_(BR) corresponding to the otherreference picture list. In the case when co-located block T_(BR) doesn'texist, the search order searches the MV of T_(ctr) corresponding to thegiven reference picture list, then the MV of T_(ctr) corresponding tothe other reference picture list.

There are various methods for deriving the spatial MVP based onneighboring blocks. For example, the AMVP scheme by McCann et al.,entitled “Samsung's Response to the Call for Proposals on VideoCompression Technology”, Document JCTVC-A124, Joint Collaborative Teamon Video Coding (JCT-VC) of ITU-T SG16 WP3 and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG1,1st Meeting: Dresden, Germany, 15-23 Apr. 2010 describes a method ofderiving the spatial MVP based on the neighboring blocks on the left andneighboring blocks on the top. An improved method for derivation ofspatial MVP based on neighboring blocks is disclosed in the U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/177,808, entitled “Method and Apparatus forDerivation of Spatial Motion Vector Candidate and Motion VectorPrediction Candidate”, filed Jul. 7, 2011. The temporal MVP derivationincorporating an embodiment according to the present invention may beused with any spatial MVP derivation scheme for spatial/temporal MVPderivation.

FIG. 8 illustrates neighboring block and co-located block configurationfor deriving spatial/temporal motion vector prediction candidate set forMerge mode according to an embodiment of the present invention. The samesearch set and the same search order as those of FIG. 7 are used forMerge mode. While the specific co-located reference blocks, i.e. T_(BR)and T_(ctr), are used as an example of co-located reference blocks,other blocks within the co-located block and its neighboring blocks mayalso be used as the co-located reference blocks. Furthermore, threesearch MVs for each co-located reference block are used as an example.However, more or less search MVs can be used for each co-locatedreference block. Furthermore, not every co-located reference block hasto include multiple search MVs. For example, co-located reference blockT_(BR) may include the search MVs labeled as 1, 2 and 3 while co-locatedreference block T_(ctr) may include only one search MV labeled as 1 inFIG. 7 and FIG. 8. Furthermore, the particular search order illustratedin FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 starts with the search motion vector crossing thecurrent picture, then searches the search motion vector pointing to areference picture in the given reference picture list. If the MVP stillcannot be found, the search order goes to the search MV pointing to areference picture in the other reference picture list is searched.Nevertheless, other search order may also be used.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of MVP derivation scheme incorporatinganother embodiment according to the present invention, where anexemplary search set and an exemplary search order are illustrated forderiving a temporal MVP. The scheme of temporal MVP derivation issimilar to the scheme shown in FIG. 7 except that the MVP found from thecollocated reference block, T_(BR) is compared with one or more previousMVP. The previous MVP(s) can be any previously derived MVP in thecandidate set of MVPs for determining the final MVP, for example, theprevious MVP can be a previously derived spatial MVP. If the MVP foundis the same as a previous MVP, the search of the temporal MVP continueson the other collocated reference block, for example, T_(ctr). If an MVPis found, the MVP is compared with the previous MVP(s). If the MVP foundis again the same as a previous MVP, the MVP is set to zero or a defaultvalue, or the MVP is simply removed from the candidate set (i.e.temporal MVP is not available).

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of MVP derivation scheme incorporatingyet another embodiment according to the present invention, where anexemplary search set and an exemplary search order are illustrated forderiving a temporal MVP. While the search order shown in FIG. 9 searchesthrough all search MVs associated with each co-located reference blockbefore moving to the next co-located reference block, FIG. 10illustrates another search order. The search order shown in FIG. 10searches the first search MV through all co-located reference blocks. Ifan MVP is found, the MVP is compared with a previous MVP. If the MVPfound is the same as the previous MVP or no MVP is found, the search oftemporal MVP continues to search the next search MV through allco-located reference blocks. After all search MVs are searched, if anMVP is found, the MVP is compared with a previously found MVP. If theMVP found is the same as the previous MVP or no MVP is found, the MVP isset to zero, a default value, or a pre-defined value, or the MVP issimply removed from the candidate set (i.e. temporal MVP is notavailable). In the spatial/temporal MVP derivation scheme, the spatialMVP is often determined before the temporal MVP. Therefore, the previousMVP can be any of the spatial MVP determined at the beginning of thetemporal MVP derivation.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of motion vector prediction incorporatingan embodiment according to the present invention using scaled motionvectors derived from the co-located block. In FIG. 11, the currentpicture having current block 1110 is labeled with picture index k. Thetarget reference picture is labeled with picture index j. Picture l isthe co-located picture selected to determine co-located block 1120. Thereference picture list of the current block is assumed to be list 1.There are two co-located reference MVs, i.e., mvL0_(l) and mvL1_(l),where mvL0_(l) points to a reference picture in list 0 and mvL1_(l)points to a reference picture in list 1. Therefore, mvL1_(l) points to areference picture in the same reference list as the current block whilemvL0_(l) points to a reference picture in a different reference list.Reference MV mvL0_(l) is from picture/to picture i. Therefore, referenceMV mvL0_(l) goes across the current picture k as shown in FIG. 11. Thetemporal MVP can be derived according to a search order. The exampleshown in FIG. 11 assigns a higher search priority to the search MV inthe same reference list. Accordingly, scaled motion vector 1124corresponding to mvL1_(l) pointing to the reference picture in the samereference list is selected over scaled motion vector 1122 correspondingto mvL0_(l) pointing to a reference picture in the other reference list.The scaled motion vector can be derived from the respective referencemotion vector according to a first temporal distance associated with theselected MVP and a second temporal distance associated with the currenttarget reference picture. In the example of FIG. 11, the temporaldistance associated with mvL1_(l) can be computed according to thedifference in associated picture indexes, i.e., |m−l|. On the otherhand, the temporal distance associated with the current target referencepicture can be computed according to the difference in associatedpicture indexes, |k−j|. An example of deriving scaled motion vector isdescribed in “Direct Mode Coding for Bipredictive Slices in the H.264Standard”, authored by Tourapis et al., in IEEE Trans. on Circuits andSystems for Video Technology, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 119-126, January 2005.

FIG. 12 illustrates another example of motion vector prediction usingscaled motion vectors derived from a co-located block, where the MVP isselected according to an alternative search order. While the searchorder of FIG. 11 assigns a higher search priority to the search MVpointing to a picture in the same reference list than the search MVpointing to a picture in the other reference list, the search order ofFIG. 12 assigns an even higher search priority to the search MV crossingthe current picture. Accordingly, scaled motion vector 1122corresponding to mvL0_(l) crossing the current picture is selected.

The reference picture selected to determine co-located block, i.e., theco-located picture, can be implicitly or explicitly determined. A flagcan be incorporated in the bitstream to indicate whether an implicitmethod or an explicit method is used. The information associated withthe flag can be incorporated in sequence level, picture level, or slicelevel. The use of implicit method has the advantage of low sideinformation or no side information associated with the reference pictureselection. When the implicit method is used, the selection method forthe co-located picture associated with the co-located block can bedetermined according to the given reference list. For example, if thecurrent picture is in reference list 0, the co-located pictureassociated with the co-located block is selected from reference list 1.On the other hand, if the current picture is in reference list 1, theco-located picture associated with the co-located block is selected fromreference list 0. When the implicit method is used, the selection methodfor the co-located picture associated with the co-located block can bebased on the temporal distance associated with the reference MVs.Furthermore, the selection method selects the co-located picture,wherein the reference MVs associated with the co-located picture have ashortest temporal distance. In one embodiment according to the presentinvention, the selection method for the co-located picture associatedwith the co-located block is based on a picture type of the co-locatedpicture if the flag indicates the implicit method. In another embodimentaccording to the present invention, the selection method for theco-located picture associated with the co-located block is based on alayer of the co-located picture in a hierarchical group of pictures(GOP), or a picture order of the co-located picture in a GOP, or thepicture order of the co-located picture in a same layer as thehierarchical GOP if the flag indicates the implicit method.

In this disclosure, exemplary configurations of co-located referenceblocks have been provided to illustrate embodiments according to thepresent invention. While separate exemplary configurations have beenprovided for the Inter/Skip mode and Merge mode, the exemplaryconfiguration for the Inter/Skip mode is applicable to Merge mode, andvice versa. In addition, separate exemplary search schemes have beenprovided for the Inter/Skip mode and Merge mode. However, the searchscheme for the Inter/Skip mode is applicable to Merge mode, and viceversa. Furthermore, while several configurations of co-located referenceblocks are illustrated as examples, a skilled person in the field maypractice the present invention using other configurations with departingfrom the spirit of the present invention.

Embodiment of MVP derivation according to the present invention asdescribed above may be implemented in various hardware, software codes,or a combination of both. For example, an embodiment of the presentinvention can be a circuit integrated into a video compression chip orprogram codes integrated into video compression software to perform theprocessing described herein. An embodiment of the present invention mayalso be program codes to be executed on a Digital Signal Processor (DSP)to perform the processing described herein. The invention may alsoinvolve a number of functions to be performed by a computer processor, adigital signal processor, a microprocessor, or field programmable gatearray (FPGA). These processors can be configured to perform particulartasks according to the invention, by executing machine-readable softwarecode or firmware code that defines the particular methods embodied bythe invention. The software code or firmware codes may be developed indifferent programming languages and different format or style. Thesoftware code may also be compiled for different target platform.However, different code formats, styles and languages of software codesand other means of configuring code to perform the tasks in accordancewith the invention will not depart from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom its spirit or essential characteristics. The described examples areto be considered in all respects only as illustrative and notrestrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by theappended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changeswhich come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims areto be embraced within their scope.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of deriving a motion vectorpredictor (MVP) for a motion vector (MV) of a current block of a currentpicture in Inter, or Merge, or Skip mode, wherein the MV is associatedwith the current block and a corresponding block of a target referencepicture in a given reference list, the method comprising: selecting aco-located block corresponding to a co-located picture; receiving one ormore reference motion vectors (MVs) of one or more co-located referenceblocks associated with the co-located block; determining a search set,wherein the search set comprises one or more search MVs associated withsaid one or more co-located reference blocks; determining a search orderfor the search set, wherein the search order starts with searching thesearch MV corresponding to the given reference list, if the search MVcorresponding to the given reference list is not available, the searchorder then searches the search MV corresponding to a reference listdifferent from the given reference list; determining the MVP for thecurrent block based on the search set and the search order; andproviding the MVP for the current block, wherein said one or moreco-located reference blocks comprise an inside co-located block atcenter of the co-located block and an outside co-located block outsidethe co-located block across from a lower-right corner of the co-locatedblock; wherein said determining the MVP searches the search MVsassociated with the outside co-located block and then the insideco-located block, and the search order for each co-located referenceblock is from the search MV corresponding to the given reference list,to the search MV corresponding to a reference list different from thegiven reference list; and wherein the search order for determining theMVP is from the search MV corresponding to the given reference list, tothe search MV corresponding to a reference list different from the givenreference list associated with the outside co-located block; and whereinsaid determining the MVP further searches the one or more search MVsassociated with the inside co-located block if no MVP is found or theMVP found is the same as a previous MVP derived from neighboring blocksof the current block.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the co-locatedpicture associated with the co-located block is indicated by a flag, andinformation associated with the flag is incorporated in sequence level,picture level, or slice level.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein theco-located picture associated with the co-located block is derivedaccording to an implicit method.
 4. The method of claim 3, whereinselection method for the co-located picture associated with theco-located block is determined according to the given reference list. 5.The method of claim 4, wherein the selection method selects theco-located picture in a reference list different from the givenreference list.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein selection method forthe co-located picture associated with the co-located block is based ona temporal distance associated with said one or more reference MVs ofsaid one or more co-located reference blocks.
 7. The method of claim 6,wherein the selection method selects the co-located block, wherein saidone or more reference MVs associated with the co-located block have ashortest temporal distance.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein selectionmethod for the co-located picture associated with the co-located blockis based on a picture type of the co-located picture.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein selection method for the co-located picture associatedwith the co-located block is based on a layer of the co-located picturein a hierarchical group of pictures (GOP), or a picture order of theco-located picture in a GOP, or the picture order of the co-locatedpicture in a same layer as the hierarchical GOP.
 10. The method of claim1, wherein the inside co-located block is located at center of theco-located block.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the outsideco-located block is located outside the co-located block across from alower-right corner of the co-located block.
 12. The method of claim 1,wherein said determining the MVP searches the search MVs associated withthe outside co-located block before the search MVs associated with theinside co-located block.
 13. The method of claim 1, the MVP is set tozero, a default value or a pre-defined value, or removed from acandidate set of MVPs if no MVP is found or the MVP found is the same asthe previous MVP after the search MVs associated with the insideco-located block are searched.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein saiddetermining the MVP searches the search MV(s) associated with a secondco-located reference block if said determining the MVP finds no MVP fromthe search MV(s) associated with a first co-located block, or if the MVPfound is the same as a previous MVP derived from neighboring blocks ofthe current block.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the MVP is set tozero, a default value or a pre-defined value, or removed from acandidate set of MVPs, if no MVP is found or the MVP found is the sameas the previous MVP after searching the search MV(s) associated with theco-located reference blocks in the search set.
 16. The method of claim1, wherein the MVP is scaled according to a first temporal distanceassociated with the MVP selected and a second temporal distanceassociated with the motion vector of the current block.
 17. An apparatusfor deriving a motion vector predictor (MVP) for a motion vector (MV) ofa current block of a current picture in Inter, or Merge, or Skip mode,wherein the MV is associated with the current block and a correspondingblock of a target reference picture in a given reference list, theapparatus comprising at least one circuit configured for: for selectinga co-located block corresponding to a co-located picture; receiving oneor more reference motion vectors (MVs) of one or more co-locatedreference blocks associated with the co-located block; determining asearch set, wherein the search set comprises one or more search MVsassociated with said one or more co-located reference blocks;determining a search order for the search set, wherein the search orderstarts with searching the search MV corresponding to the given referencelist, if the search MV corresponding to the given reference list is notavailable, the search order then searches the search MV corresponding toa reference list different from the given reference list; determiningthe MVP for the current block based on the search set and the searchorder; and providing the MVP for the current block, wherein said one ormore co-located reference blocks comprise an inside co-located block atcenter of the co-located block and an outside co-located block outsidethe co-located block across from a lower-right corner of the co-locatedblock; wherein said determining the MVP searches the search MVsassociated with the outside co-located block and then the insideco-located block, and the search order for each co-located referenceblock is from the search MV corresponding to the given reference list,to the search MV corresponding to a reference list different from thegiven reference list; and wherein the search order for determining theMVP is from the search MV corresponding to the given reference list, tothe search MV corresponding to a reference list different from the givenreference list associated with the outside co-located block; and whereinsaid determining the MVP further searches the one or more search MVsassociated with the inside co-located block if no MVP is found or theMVP found is the same as a previous MVP derived from neighboring blocksof the current block.
 18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein theco-located picture associated with the co-located block is indicated bya flag, and information associated with the flag is incorporated in asequence level, a picture level, or a slice level.